Better Together
by omegatrinity
Summary: ZoroLuffy. A shopping trip turns into a long, irritating day. No spoilers.


**Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.**

They have a set task, and Zoro knows this. Luffy insisted he go alone, he could handle himself, he had told Sanji irritably. Zoro wasn't arguing. Luffy was easily distracted, but he wasn't helpless and a shopping trip wasn't going to kill him. It _could_, however, end up in a lot of wasted money, and as much as Zoro doesn't care, he's more concerned -if anything- with Nami's reaction when she hears Luffy's spent all the grocery money on something that caught his eye.

Babysitter. That was the word she had used and both of the boys are in continual irritation as they walk towards the market. Luffy brightens after a few minutes, never being able to dwell on anything for _too_long. Zoro is still a little bothered, and he drags his feet a little as if to tell whoever is on the street that he is _not_ in the mood to be messed with. Market places are full of thieves, they're both well aware. But the challenge isn't in the fight, it's holding back enough so that it doesn't end up as murder.

Luffy stretches for Zoro, and the swordsman can't figure out when his captain wandered off. That kid moves so fast, he thinks to himself, a little miffed that he hadn't been paying more attention. What kind of swordsman was he? He blamed it, half heartedly, on being groggy.

He doesn't speed up when Luffy's hand catches his shoulder -now a good hundred feet away- but he's aware that his attention is being called for. Luffy's found something he can't live without.

They haven't actually _made_ it to the market place, Zoro notes although he doesn't really care if they make it there or not. He knows that they're not there for_actual_ grocery shopping. It's not always Zoro, but someone has to go with Luffy to keep him under control. He has his moments, Zoro thinks, but Luffy's an idiot.

"Zoro, look!" Luffy's a distance away, and even from where he's standing Zoro can see his captain's face puffed up in annoyance -he wasn't whining, so that was a good sign. The swordsman moves next to Luffy and peers down and what he assumes is some sort of food. Although at a second glance, he's not quite sure _what_ it is he's looking at.

"I think it's fruit." Luffy says simply, assuming Zoro doesn't know what it is either. It's very clearly a yellow-orange color, and although Zoro wouldn't call the color anything other than green - the leaves have a blue tint to them.

"Hey, what's this taste like?" Luffy asks the clerk in front of them, because he's thinking it looks like a pineapple, but with the colors all messed up. Luffy's mind says pineapple shape equals pineapple, and he goes to pop the thing it his mouth before getting a proper answer. Zoro hits him in the back of the head and warns him not to eat things without paying. He hears his captain mutter something that sounds -not all too inconspicuously- like "four swords."

Zoro can tell this is going to be a long day.

He remembers, now, that Luffy feels inclined to look at _everything_ in the market before he decides, finally, on what snacks his money can get him - and it's usually, but not always, meat related - and Zoro would complain, but he's not in a hurry and he could care less how long Luffy takes to make the same decision every time.

In the back of his brain, Zoro is pretty sure Luffy's trying to get his attention -again. He thinks he hears a "-where are you _going_? Let's get some food." He's half screaming it at him, but it's more of a suggestion by Luffy's standards. This _was_ a food run, it's normal for him to actually want to buy food - but honestly, it's his own fault for wanting to look at every stupid item the market has in it.

Luffy isn't bothered by the fact that Zoro rarely speaks up during grocery shopping trips. He thinks, sometimes, Zoro forgets why he came in the first place, and ends up wandering off because that's what he does. He's used to Zoro's distance and the only time it has _ever_ started to get him is when he turns to show him something particularly interesting, and Zoro's no where to be found. It's not that he isn't close by, just not within his line of sight. Luffy's attention span doesn't always hold long enough to show the swordsman everything he finds exciting - sometimes he prefers Usopp comes with him, because he follows closely.

Luffy is reminded of the perks to Zoro's company during the fight -or lack thereof- with Bellamy in the bar -Zoro would die for him, without even blinking. It's something he's always admired of the swordsman, and always respected. Zoro takes being his "nakama" to a new level, Luffy thinks, and he laughs to himself when he notes how intense his friend can be.

Zoro's found him, after about ten minutes of being by himself. "What's so funny?" He yawns at the end, and Luffy wonders if Zoro strayed to take a ten minute nap - but, and this is more likely, he probably got lost.

He almost asks, "where were you?" but he doesn't really care where Zoro went off to, it probably wasn't very interesting - he _did_ come back quickly. Luffy grabs Zoro's arm and pulls him towards the item in question.

"Do you think we can buy this?" It's a slab -no, slab sounds too small- of meat sitting on a large stand, waiting to be cut. Zoro is positive that Luffy doesn't mean to size the food up. It's a lot of beef, and even though he doesn't want to think it, he's positive whatever Sanji makes from it is going to be delicious.

"How much did the cook give you?" Zoro says, picking his ear -irritated that his mind went to their crew member immediately- he _will_ admit to himself, however, that it looks tender, it'll probably make a good dinner.

Luffy hums and digs through his pockets - he pulls out a lot of lint. "Didn't he give it to _you_?" His eyebrows are furrowed in concentration, trying to remember the actions of that morning - Zoro knows that the money's lost. He shakes his head, but pats down his pockets anyway, maybe he had some stashed.

Luffy punches him in the arm -it's light, because Luffy's more distraught than mad- and half shouts, "Zoro, you lost the money! Idiot!"

Zoro's positive that this is completely Luffy's fault. He's not looking forward to going back to the ship because the (stupid) chef will, no doubt, lecture him on keeping track of Luffy -isn't that what we sent you for? How useless can you be?- he's irritated just thinking about it. Nami will be even more angry - violently so.

Luffy looks a little more irritated now -most likely with Zoro- and he frowns into his empty pockets. He's hoping that by some stretch, he shoves his hand deep enough so that his money magically appears. When he looks up, he's glaring at the swordsman.

"Now we can't get snacks!" Luffy shouts, but that one was more of a whine, and it's starting to get on Zoro's nerves. He's not mad, he tells himself, just frustrated with the situation.

"Don't blame _me_!" Zoro snaps back, and the two nearly touch noses when they turn to growl at each other.

"Why not?" Luffy yells, and they start to gather an audience, Zoro hates calling attention to a stupid situation, "It's _your_ fault!" He stomps off in the opposite direction, announcing something about asking Sanji for more money. Zoro nearly runs after him, but he knows he'd really just be trying to stop him from telling the cook, the last thing he needs is his nagging. Equally as angry, Zoro turns to storm in the other direction.

Luffy makes at least thirteen stops on his way back to the ship. Seven of them were for food, and he stops in front of the windows to admire the displays. After the seventh, Luffy growls a little -remembering that he's broke because of a _certain_ swordsman- but a small part of him says that he really was just looking for someone to blame. No, and he shakes his head to forget about it, Zoro's a money-losing jerk, and he punctuates his mental sentence with a nod of his head. This is most definitely not at all his fault.

By the time Luffy reaches Sanji, the cook is already irritated -noticing right away that the swordsman isn't with Luffy- and he immediately lights a new cigarette. Luffy watches the lines continue to crease his face when he explains what happened. Sanji almost kicks Luffy's face in. In a last second flood of instinct, Luffy bends backwards and Sanji's heel only hits his nose - enough to startle him and maybe leave a bruise across his face. Luffy whines that it wasn't his fault -Zoro's the one always losing things, including himself- and Sanji only seems to get angrier.

Luffy leaves unsatisfied with the results. Now he's broke _and_ his face hurts.

Zoro's been trying to find his way back to the ship for the last hour. He's pissed because he _knows_ they didn't walk that far, it was barely a fifteen minute walk and every sign seems to be pointing to the docks, but none of them seem to get him there. He's too stubborn to ask where he's going.

He grinds his teeth, thoroughly irate when every head of every person with black hair looks like Luffy, despite the lack of hats -but in his defense, Luffy had it around his neck last time they were together. He almost grabs at a boy, standing in a crowd of people, and is glad that he hesitated at the last minute -it turned out it wasn't Luffy. _Obviously_. Zoro chastises himself. He's found the marketplace, which, unfortunately, is in the opposite direction of the ship. Now he's just lost and bitter, at least with Luffy he had something to keep him in the right direction - most of the time. He's about to head in what he is _certain_ is South (where they docked), when something catches his eye. The woman running the booth sees she's caught his attention, and walks over to where he is.

"How much is this?" He knows he doesn't have money but he figures he'll ask anyway, in case he happens to suddenly strike gold in his empty pockets.

"It's 3,000 beri." She says simply, but there's something in her eyes that make Zoro a little uncomfortable. "Is it for someone special?" As much as he wants to tell her _it's none of your business_, he stifles the thought.

"Something like that."

Luffy finds himself easily distracted in his new -mini-quest - to find Zoro. He justifies himself by mentally saying it's to demand he find a way to replace the money. But he thinks it's really because he misses the swordsman's company. He feels weird even admitting it to himself, _guilt?_ No, he thinks, he's just hungry.

He's walking by a display -Luffy thinks they all put their meat out now that he doesn't have the money to buy it- but he finds something that's interesting to say the least. Pressing his face against the window, he can't help but think that maybe he should ask about it - he could always find Usopp and get money from him, right?

He flings the door to the shop open, the bell signaling his entrance, and the young man at the counter looks up. He doesn't even have enough time to say, "Can I help you?" before Luffy is asking about the window.

Zoro feels like he's been wallowing in guilt long enough, it wasn't his fault anyway, but he _did_ get a little more upset than he would've liked. He'd like to blame it on Luffy, but he guesses that they've probably done enough blaming for the day.

When he leaves the marketplace, in an attempt to find Luffy he _finally_, although accidentally, ends up back at their ship. Zoro mentally curses that he can never find things when he's looking for them, but he's interrupted by a frustrated chef.

"What's wrong with you? You can't keep track of the captain long enough to-"

"He's not a baby, he doesn't need me to watch him-"

Luffy gets back to the ship, Usopp and Chopper shortly behind him -he found them on his way. And laughs when he hears Usopp's groan behind him -I can't believe they're at it again. Upon seeing Zoro, Luffy remembers how irritated he was with the swordsman. Zoro only stops fighting with Sanji when he sees Luffy's made it back.

He gives a bored, "Oh!" As if to say, I didn't notice you'd shown up. But moves his swords back into their sheaths and picks up a bag that's on the ground nearby. He means to give the gift in a way that's apologetic, but he ends up shoving it into Luffy's chest with a gruff, "Here."

Luffy frowns, "What is it?" Zoro's looking away now, towards the ever fascinating still ocean around the docks - he wishes it _was_ exciting, so he'd have an excuse for looking away in the first place.

"Just open it." He has to force himself not to snap it as a demand. Luffy never responded well to force.

The captain peers into the bag, and when Zoro looks back, the rest of the boys around around Luffy looking in too.

"How'd you buy that if you didn't have the money, marimo?" Sanji says, blowing smoke into Zoro's face, and he has to use all his energy not to stab Sanji right through the face.

"It was a gift." He says, curt, but he's paying more attention to Luffy's reaction.

He dips both hands into the bag and pulls the present out. Usopp and Chopper look at each other, and they both fight to ask - Are you _sure_ it was a gift? It looks expensive.

Luffy holds the present - a glass arm band- to the sunlight, and he furrows his eyebrows a little, bracing his eyes against the sun.

"It's not a bracelet." Zoro says, suddenly feeling the need to defend himself, although he's not sure why, and he forcibly ignores Sanji's snickering from Luffy's side -not that the stupid cook would understand.

Luffy suddenly perks up, and shuffles around and yells to the group on land that he'll be right back, he has to go get something. When Luffy leaves there's an awkward silence, except for the quiet giggles from Sanji. Zoro glares towards the chef -I told you it's not a bracelet, stop laughing, dumbass. Usopp and Chopper are discussing the arm band, they think it'll make Luffy look like a warrior. When Luffy comes back, the silence settles again, and Usopp and Chopper are anxious to see what Luffy had to get.

He pushes a box towards Zoro, staring straight at him. "It's your favorite wine." Luffy says, spoiling the surprise without thinking twice about it, "The guy gave it to me for free."

Zoro frowns, he feels an apology is in order but hell if he's going to cave first. Where would be the benefit in telling Luffy that he spent all day stalking twelve year olds he thought looked like him, or that he tried looking for the money he didn't lose in the first place. No, Zoro thought, he had enough embarrassment for today.

"I'm sorry you lost the money, Zoro." Luffy says, and even though Zoro knows the blame is still on him, he can tell Luffy means well -he pushes the annoyance to the back of his brain.

"Yeah," Zoro says, giving up, "I'll keep track of it next time." Defeated, he thinks, all the training in the world wouldn't have won him this match.

In quick motion, Luffy runs in for a hug that's short, but Zoro can almost feel the emotion behind it, if things like that were possible. They both know that the other three boys are staring that them, so Luffy pulls back and grins.

"This glass band is awesome, Zoro, thanks!" And he slips it up his arm, settling it halfway between his elbow in shoulder. He runs off, Usopp and Chopper following him to go show Nami the present.

Zoro's smiling, at least it's a smile by _his_ standards, still dwelling a little on the hug. He won't admit it, but he's happy to have Luffy back. Sanji notices the expression on the swordsman's face.

"You're such a pervert." He says, giving the other boy a disgusted expression as he blows the smoke through his teeth. Zoro isn't elated enough to block out Sanji's insults, however.

"What'd you say? You want to start something?" But he picks up the box Luffy had placed at his feet, and moves it to a safe place before he really reacts to the chef. His comeback could've been a little more witty, but he doesn't really care, and in a last minute decision, he grabs the wine and takes a long swig of it.

Priorities, Zoro thinks, the wine comes first, he doesn't want to waste it being angry at a -way more perverted- moron.

There's a shatter from the kitchen and a, "AH!" Three joined voices following the crash. Luffy is distraught, looking at the pieces - spread along the floor - that once made up his arm band. He looks over at Zoro, worried he'll be mad for smashing his gift so soon after receiving it - it had hardly been a whole day! - but the swordsman's sleeping. As quietly as possible, Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy all scramble to pick up the pieces (and make up a lie) so that Zoro never knows what happened.

Zoro opens an eye as the three run to dump the glass remains somewhere where no one will find them -overboard, Chopper suggests. He doesn't have the heart to tell Luffy that he didn't get to enjoy the wine -a well aimed foot had almost hit it, and in an attempt to save it (and cut the foot _off_) Zoro misses Sanji altogether and breaks the bottle open. He wishes he had chugged the whole bottle before the fight -but where would that have gotten him?

This day was a disaster, nothing good ever comes of losing Luffy -or fighting with him. He refuses to dwell on this. It's pretty much over anyway. Maybe they're better together, Zoro thinks, some people just weren't meant to be apart.


End file.
